What is it like to live in one of the first world countries?
Published by Kathy Vo on October 3, 2018
Background on the term “First World”
The term “First World” originally refers to the so-called developed, capitalist, industrial countries who were aligned with the United States after World War II. The term “First World” now refers to countries that have collectively attained a higher standard of living, a high per capita gross national product, and a strongly diversified technology base, regardless of who they aligned with during the Cold War (“First World Countries List, 1st World Countries Definition, Nation,” n.d.). They are sometimes referred to as the developed, industrialized, or Western world. First World occupants make up approximately 15% of the world population.
Perspective on Living in a First World Country
As a person living in a First World country, I feel both blessed and cursed. I believe some First World countries are corrupt in the sense that we lack adequate mental and health care, a healthy diet, and exercise routine. I see people constantly worrying about money that sometimes they forget about their own health. If we are not worrying about money, then we are worrying about health. When we are worried about health, we might not have the money to maintain health. Regardless of what we lack, my country provides some sort of help to its citizens. They provide unemployment money to those who lost their job, financial aid to those in college, and decent benefits for people who are employed under the government. Perspective on Living in a First World Country
As a person living in a First World country, I feel both blessed and cursed. I believe some First World countries are corrupt in that we lack adequate mental and health care, a healthy diet, and exercise routine. I see people constantly worrying about money that sometimes they forget about their own health. If we are not worrying about money, then we are worrying about health. When we are worried about health, we might not have the money to maintain health. Regardless of what we lack, my country provides some sort of help to its citizens. They provide unemployment money to those who lost their job, financial aid to those in college, and decent benefits for people who are employed under the government. These government subsidies could be beneficial in the sense that they support people to improve themselves but failed to support those who already reach their maximum potential.
Mental State
Living in a First World country, we are more prone to stress both mentally and physically. We are often tired from overworking and little sleep, yet we constantly demand more and more as our country grow richer. Does demanding more things mean that we will be happier? Well according to Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. review of Rich Easterlin work in 1975, suggests that there is no link between a society’s economic development and its average level of happiness. His work, “ Easterlin paradox,” is a good example of how after we obtain a goal that does not have sentimental value we go back to a state of happiness as we did before the goal was accomplished (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2008). Besides stressing on demanded goods, we are also stressed about commuting as we become more crowded with people who have reached a stable per capita GDP limit. We tend to develop road rage as traffic increase and when our time is wasted on stuff that is non-beneficial to us. These stresses from desire and commute can lead to heart disease, sleeplessness, and other diseases as seen in the video below.
Poverty and Health Care
According to N. G. Dziedzic, the United States poverty differs to the developing world, but there are some similarities. For instance, some people in the United States experience persistent poverty, living without basic utilities, safe drinking water, and sanitation, even in the twenty-first century. Although the majority of Americans — even many of those living below the poverty threshold — manage to afford items such as televisions, a rising number of households have trouble affording food at least once during a given year (Dziedzic, 2007). Maybe “This begs the question: why are some Americans able to afford luxury items but not basic medical care?” By watching the video below, you will understand how greedy corporate and insurance companies play a role in how we are not able to afford health care like the top 1%.
Healthy Diet and Exercise
Living in a First World country, I see people of all sizes, some obese, fat, fit and skinny. I fall into the fat but near obese category. My diet consists of protein, carbs, and fat like everybody else, but I like to eat out. Every step or car ride I take I see advertisements for fast food and junk food. This unhealthy food trend could be the result of being overnutrition in a First World country like the United States (Geissler, 2005). However, there are no regulations to keep me from eating those types of foods, because my country is run by money. In an interview with my fellow Longhorns, three out five claimed to eat out more than 3 times a week and, out of the five-interviewed one claimed to work out one time a week. The point is, we do not have a healthy diet or healthy routine of exercising. Due to those unhealthy habits, you can see that we are one of the most obese countries who are prone to heart diseases as mention in a lecture given by Dr. Jules R. Elkins at the University of Texas at Austin. As shown by Renew Bariatric, the United States ranks in the top 25 most obese counties (renewbariatric, 2017).
The benefit of the United States
On a lighter note, the United States is one of the richest and strongest nations. We have a great military and bountiful amount of resources. We have a strong sense of nationalism as well as many programs to help our citizens, including financial aid, federal grants for school programs, and money for the unemployed and retired. Every citizen who are about to start college can apply for financial aid for up to 6 years. Every school that wants to improve the education and health of their students through sports or learning can apply for federal funding. Anyone who is unemployed because an employer letting them go is qualified for unemployment money if they are continuing to look and apply for another job in a given time period. If you are a retired citizen over the age of 65, you will receive retirement money as long as you can provide a social security number to prove working contribution. Included with retirement pension is health care funded by government tax dollars (Medicare).
Experiencing these First World Situations
I love to complain about my first world privileges like everybody living here. I am stressed like everybody else in my country because of work or school. I suffer from crappy healthcare like my fellow citizens who live in poverty. I demand more things now as I am starting to make money like everybody else. I eat unhealthily and live unhealthy like everyone who doesn’t make or find time to exercise. I benefit from the United States through financial aid and federal grants like everybody else who has gone to college and public schools. I see my family get unemployment and retirement money like everybody who contributed to the United States economy as a legal citizen.
Conclusion
In conclusion, first world countries are mentally ill because we are unhappy with what we have and we will always demand more things as people in our society become more competitive with one another. As the competition among others never stops, we will continue to be workaholics who will only find comfort in alcohol and drugs. Other than our mental state, we will continue to allow money to run our government. As money runs our government, our health care will become more expensive and lousy each day. As healthcare becomes unaffordable and eventually useless, the people who lived in poverty will eventually die off and leaving the top 1% and upper middle class. If the healthcare gets worst and worst, we will die of obesity and heart diseases just because we were not able or just too lazy to eat right and exercise. This will be the future of our world as many other countries are very close to becoming first world countries. Regardless to the benefits that the country provide, I believe death will come to us all as we continue to live in a first world country. This will continue to be my opinion unless we can change our standard of living and start thinking of each individuals health and needs.
References
Dziedzic, N. G. (Ed.). (2007). The Poor in Developed Countries. In World Poverty (2006 ed., pp. 61–76). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2685900012/GVRL?u=txshracd2598&sid=GVRL&xid=cc455fae
First World Countries List, 1st World Countries Definition, Nation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from http://www.4geeksonly.com/countries/first-world-countries.html
Geissler, C. (2005). Nutrition Policies in Developing and Developed Countries. In B. Caballero, L. Allen, & A. Prentice (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 293–301). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3032200242/GVRL?u=txshracd2598&sid=GVRL&xid=2a4c39f9
renewbariatric. (2017, September 24). World Rankings: Obesity Rates by Country (July 2017). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from https://renewbariatrics.com/obesity-rank-by-countries/
Robbins, P. (Ed.). (2007). Developed “First” World. In Encyclopedia of Environment and Society (Vol. 2, pp. 453–454). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2660700308/GVRL?u=txshracd2598&sid=GVRL&xid=2f982289
Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2008). Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2008, 1–87.
